Motorola DROID Ultra hands-on

Introduction

These are the DROIDs that you are looking for. This may make a wonderful slogan for Motorola after they have revealed their new line of high-end smartphones called Motorola DROID MAXX, Motorola DROID Ultra and, of course, Motorola DROID Mini. It is undeniable that all of the phones in the series have amazing qualities, performance and specification, however it is important to distinguish their uniqueness. Although they are all great devices probably the best characteristics of all are attributed to the Motorola DROID Ultra and that’s not because it has that huge battery life or that convenient size for one hand handling but rather it combines all the great stuff from both the Mini and the MAXX and it is at a reasonable an yet affordable price so let’s start by evaluating its design

Design

It is obvious for everyone that the phone is Ultra thin and yet not small in size so we can safely assume that’s it fits the criteria for a regular smathphone not going in the new phablet category coined in the recent years, which is more a territory of the Motorola DROID MAXX and it certainly isn’t going in the Mini sector, either. When it comes to raw number and dimensions we are talking about 5.41 x 2.80 x 0.28 inches (137.5 x 71.2 x 7.18 mm). The battery is  a bit bigger than that of the Mini 2130 mAh. There is something stunning about it besides the red flaming color and that’s the incredible slimness of only 7.18mm but of course it becomes a little bit thicker where the camera is. Going back to the color and the Kevlar background it is really interesting what would be the feedback to that kind of coverage, especially because it seems really resistant and durable but looks prone to fingerprints and smudges.

Display

Here we can also notice a considerable improvement in the size and quality of the display from the phone’s predecessor and this time around we really can say that the result is quite satisfying and clear. When it comes to number here 5-inch Super AMOLED HD display, larger than the 4.7-inch display from previous year’s DROID RAZR HD. The resolution is somewhat behind at 720 x 1280 pixels – 720p no doubt, but there was a tiny hope for 1080p.

The good news on the other hand is that it is no longer relying on PenTile matrix so it’s something. When looked closely you can see and feel the level of detail and the smoothness the display presents it to its holder. The AMOLED technology clearly offers amazing experience and sharpness along with vibrant colors and wide viewing angles.

Software

When it comes to innovations and software development we cannot really say that there are some huge outstanding changes although it is notices that there are some significant attempts for updates of the already introduced widgets and a general more faster and fluid response, everything else is generally stock Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2 with a few but important Motorola adjustments. We are also happy to see all the personalization and functionality we would expect from such mobile platform. With a few surprises this line of DROID phones has some special features over other products on the market available with the same platform.

The most important feature that is brand new is the Touchless Control feature which is exclusive not only to the device but to the market itself, not surprisingly Motorola have developed an entire processor core just to be able to manage it and have it up and running without draining the whole battery life out of the phone and yet being efficient. The Touchless Control is about the entire phone being able to listen to your commands even when the display is off. The idea is that you just speak what you want done and like magic the handset makes sure your phone calls, messages and notes are instantaneously done, however, our experience shows that the device struggles to differentiate clearly the speech but then again the test wasn’t done in quiet room.

Hardware

When we start talking about hardware we should point out that Motorola have really put effort into developing a whole new dual-core 1.7GHz Motorola X8 processor which is build on their own coupled with 2GB of RAM, a 400MHz quad-core GPU. Even though Motorola is a later comer to the hardware market the level of accuracy and execution of the details is amazing and even though the device is still not put on the shelf but is rather a pre- unit it is still really impressive and stunning. The performance of this devices and the level of reactivity and response along with its snappy feel is just awesome. Recently we have not come across such a strong competitor.

Camera

Here we can say a lot and we can describe the new clear pixel technology that is employed in the phone. We can talk about how it makes much better pictures in low-light environments and how it seem s to be far quicker in the daytime due to the amount of information that is processed or we could just say that it makes really, really good pictures with 10 MP quality and shots Full HD video playback.

Conclusion

It is obvious for everyone that the Ultra is the middle child for Motorola and it will definitely play the role of the flagship but we could say with full confidence that there isn’t much that the Motorola lacks in comparison to any other device.